Heather and Tim our long suffering, hardworking, energetic and resourceful crew had booked us a restaurant meal last night. Presumably to celebrate their survival thus far! In our copious cruising notes dossier we had found a recommendation by Clive Woodman for the bistro at the Sisimiut Hotel at the eastern edge of town. We had a reservation for 7.00pm.
We had shuffled the boats inside us on our raft twice in the afternoon and thus had a reasonable level of confidence that we would be able to leave the boat to fend for itself for the bistro booking. Anyway the harbour was emptying fast for it was a Friday evening when every one takes to the water in Sisimiut. It seemed like everyone was heading off for the weekend and can only assume it was to their huts in the fjords for a bit of hunting and fishing and general r&r after a hectic week in Sisimiut city - a town of 5,500.
It was sunny with a cool northerly wind blowing from Baffin Bay when we wandered up the hill to the commercial centre of town and then eastwards, past rows of accommodation tower blocks, to the Bistro. Although there is only 2 miles of road in town and none in the surrounding countryside the roads were busy with Friday night taxis, 4x4's, newish private cars and a Hummer that kept cruising past us. Everyone left in town must have been out and about to celebrate a fine summer's Friday evening.
The Bistro was easily spotted amongst the shabby, graffitied social housing and inside we were greeted by smiling waitresses, music, warmth and two TV screens showing looped video of log fires. Remember there are no trees in Greenland so the video was the next best thing to a warm welcome!
I'm not sure how many restaurants there are in Greenland but this must be one of the best and had been worth shaving for. Even Tim had eschewed his overalls but alas, not shaved! The game of the day was Reindeer which I think is Carribou. Musk Ox had evaded the bullet that week so was off the menu but it's wool could be bought in town for €59 per ball. Heather's new found knitting habit may yet result in some musky socks.
I opted for a medium rare rudolf steak. Heather, betraying her North American origins, opted for a bacon burger with cheese whereas Tim and Sally shared a table load of seafood. Greenlandic prawns, arctic snow crabs, ubiquitous cod and scallops from somewhere maybe not quite so local.
It was a feast fit for four sailors enjoying the slow return to civilisation after so long at sea. Thank you Tim and Heather.
The predicted wind had got up as we walked down the hill back to the harbour and it's chill reminded us that the sailing season here is very short. A lovely looking ketch had anchored in a protected bay north of the town. That was the first other yacht we had seen since leaving Alchemy in Qaqortoq. We wondered who they were and where they were heading?
